Tooth-brush.



T. C. KNAUFF & H. R. HEYL.

TOOTH BRUSH. APPLICATION FILE]? SEPT. 25,1915- Patented Mar. 14, 1916,

UNITED STATES PATENT THEODORE C. KNAUIEF AND HENRY R. HEYL, OF PHILADELYHIA, PENNSYLVANIA; SAID HEYL ASSIGNOR TO SAID KNAUFF.

TOOTH-BRUSH.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dial. 14, 1916.

Application filed. September 25, 1915. Serial No. 52,545.

To azz whom it may concern."

Be it known that we, THEoDoKE C. Kxanr'r and HENRY R. HEYL, both citizens of the United States, residing at Philadelphia,- in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tooth- Brushes, of which the following is a specificost, so that an infected or worn brush may be discarded and a new one substituted, whenever desirable.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective View of the device; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device with the brush-head inserted and held therein; Fig. 3, a plan view of the holder; Fig. 4 a detail perspective view of the brush-head and Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the brush as held between the sidebars of the handle.

Letters of like nameand kind refer to like parts in each of the figures.

In carrying out the invention the handle a is preferably made from non-corrosive metal wire, formed of one piece bent into a shape that will hold the brush-head Z) firmly, being without joints or crevices in which dirt may lodge, or germs of infection accumulate, and yet at the same time be capable of holding a brush of simplest construction securely; and easily removable by the fingers alone. The said handle a must be one that can be easily kept safely sterile so that only the brush head I) need be removed.

The brush-head 72 may be made of celluloid, hardwood, renderedwater-proof, or of any other suitablematerial which should be no longer in size than is necessary to hold the bristles, or their substitute, properly, and it should be without openings or crevices other than the shallow gr oves 0 along its edges to partially embrac the side bars (Z of the handle a.

The handle a as shown is made of wire bent to form an elongated loop having its clamping as shown at e, or they may be riveted, soldered or otherwise firmly united.

The side bars cl of the handle a from'about the middle of their length to the holding end are normally parallel to each other and are separated just enough to allow the brushhead 6 to pass freely between them. At, or near, the middle of the loop the side bars d are bent toward each other to reduce the space between them to a width :1 little less than the minimum width of' the brush-head 6 between the bottoms of their grooves, and

from this bend tothe brush end of the loop.

the space between the side bars (Z is gradually increased until at the end of the loop it is just as wide as the brush-head Z) at'the bottom of its grooves;-

By placing the brush-head 1) within the loop at the wide end thereof and sliding it along, the side grooves o soon engage with the side bars d where they begin to bend and the bars are thus caused to spring apart to admit of the passage of the brush toward the narrow end of the loop when by reason of the spring tension of the resilient loop the brush is held firmly against displacement under ordinary usage. v

It will be readily understood that the flexible side bars a! of the unbroken loop form a reliable pinching contact with the brushhead 7) that is sufiicient to hold the latter firmly in place without the aid of any other locking device, and yet the brush may be easily removed from the handle loop by sliding it along to the widened end thereof, where it can drop out.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 2- 1. As an improved article of manufacture, a separable tooth-brush, comprising a brushcarrying head; the back member of which has concave grooves along its opposite long edges, in combination with a separable handle formed of a wire loop between the side bars of which the brush-head is remov ably yet securely held by compression between said side bars of the loop handle, without the aid of other locking device, substantially as described.

2. A handle for a separable brush consisting of an elongated endless wire loop be tween the resilient side-bars of which a brush may be securely and rempvably held by pressure alone, substantially as described.

3. A handle for a separable brush consisthead, having concave grooves as showfi, may be inserted and retained in tially as described.

' ing of an elongated endless wire loop with relatively spaced side-bars forming two F openings of different widths,- wch approximetely about ene-hali-the length of the entire'loop; whereby a brush-head may freely place, substentures in' presence of twowitnesses. 4. A handle for}; separable brush consist- 4 1 enter the wider opening and be. passed alollg into the narrower opening to be there seside-ba-rs; substantially as described.

eurely held-by the clamping efieotofthe' l'njgstimony e f We affix our .sigfia- THEODORE (LKNAUEF. HENRY R. HEYL. Witnesses:

MAHLON VAN BoQsKIBK, JAMES S. CLIFFORD. 

